The Analytical Core laboratory at the Ponce School of Medicine will provide infrastructure to support basic and clinical research. The long term goal of this proposal is to provide efficient analytical services for the growing research needs of the institution and its affiliated clinical programs. The objectives of this proposal are to improve access to highly technical analytical tools, and to standardize and centralize the format to acquire specialized technical support for investigations in minority health care in Puerto Rico. The components of the Analytical Core Laboratory will consists of a Radioimmunoassay facility, and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) laboratory. This proposal will aid in the development of the GC-MS and RIA laboratories as a fee-for- service facility. The organization of this facility will support research project development and will target potential clinical researchers. The availability of the proposed facility will encourage new project development in two ways: a) it will diminish the need of investigators to have, or develop, specific analytical skills, and b) it will make personnel available for consultation and project design. Furthermore, this program will improve support of new research initiatives through the centralization of analytical services. The development of new projects will in turn support the facility by providing new source of revenue under fees-for-service.